Many people will watch them. The distributers hope.

I have been quietly reading the occasional post that appears on the Watchmen production blog – a site that I originally thought was a joke, as it is a Well Known Fact that noone can ever make a film of Watchmen, despite all the various attempts – and other than occasional pictures of an alley with a glimpse of Rorschach in the distance and a few things interesting to the film/comics nerd there’s not been much in the way of piccies. However today they dropped a bunch of character photos:

I’ve only seen one reaction on the internets so far, and it’s not particularly favourable, but I suspect that the comicy parts will soon erupt with righteous indignation over the constumes as they, are as Mr Church has so succinctly put it, Wrong. That said, I think they’re not bad. The Comedian looks Right, Rorschach will do, Ozymandias looks too young, The Silk Spectre looks suitably ridiculous and The Nite Owl is pretty crap but at the same time what I’d expect (as you can’t really have the old school brown suit, and he does look suitably Batman like, although he strikes me more as Robin from the Film That Does Not Exist [that I still haven’t seen]).

The various costumes are suitably different from each other, as they are in the comics, and vary in their silliness (with The Silk Spectre’s being one of the silliest ones I’ve seen so far – her suspenders look like they could get caught up in a fight…). They do, however, seem to vary a lot in their potential for reality – The Comedian and Rorschach seem to have come from a fairly serious reality which Nite Owl and Silk Spectre from a world of silliness with Ozymandias sitting in the middle looking suitably smug. The obviously missing figure is Dr Manhattan, who I suspect will be the make or break character for the look and feel of the film. From the look of the sets and the costumes I don’t think it’s, Doc Manhattan exempted of course, going to fail simply on the look and if they keep the script good (or seperate it a fair chunk from the comic) then I see it not being too bad. The serious fans will never like it, but as long as you can seperate the various media there’s a chance it might be watchable. I certainly hope so.

Comments

Comment from drploktaTime 6th March 2008 at 2:48 pm

You can’t tell if Ozymandias is too young without knowing which time period the shot is from. He’s a mature adult in the modern-day stuff, but there are lots and lots of flashbacks to younger versions of all the main characters,

Comment from billyabbottTime 6th March 2008 at 2:59 pm

I’ll give you that one, but having seen Matt Damon allegedly age 20+ years over the almost 3 hours of The Good Shepherd I’m slightly picking on aging effects at the moment…

Comment from johnckirkTime 6th March 2008 at 3:34 pm

It’s been a while since I read the comic, but as I recall he said “When I was age [X], I gave away all my money so that I could start from scratch, to emulate Alexander the Great”. So, he’d need to be at least that old.

Comment from johnckirkTime 6th March 2008 at 3:40 pm

I agree with you about the Comedian; it’s hard to tell about Rorschach without actually seeing his mask, but it looks ok from what I can see. Ozymandias and the Silk Spectre look fine to me; even if they aren’t a match for the comic, they’re appropriate for the characters. It’s just Nite Owl that I’m pretty dubious about; I’d prefer a fabric costume.

Comment from sulkyblueTime 6th March 2008 at 3:41 pm

It’s amazing what good clean living and being the richest man in the world can do for skin quality.

Comment from billyabbottTime 6th March 2008 at 5:45 pm

I don’t think Rorschach’s mask can ever be right outside of my head, so I’m holding up little hope for that. The thing that really worries me about the costumes is that it’s meant to be the same era as the comic is set – so cold war era. They really don’t look right for then.

Comment from stagknightTime 6th March 2008 at 6:13 pm

Even if the script is good, the acting will need to be very convincing to pull this off well.

Comment from stagknightTime 6th March 2008 at 6:15 pm

(I reject all you “cool” kids and your real world picture icons.)

Comment from billyabbottTime 6th March 2008 at 6:38 pm

(I used the wrong icon to post)

Comment from realtan_dannanTime 6th March 2008 at 9:30 pm

what in sweet jesus lord is she *not* wearing? that’s supposed to be a reasonable superhero outfit? oh dear.

Comment from pfigTime 7th March 2008 at 2:19 pm

i’m not feeling the force in this one.

but you’ve just reminded me that i only have a cheap, small-size edition of watchmen in the uk, i might go down to forbidden planet later on.

Comment from billyabbottTime 7th March 2008 at 6:03 pm

Be good and go to Gosh, they’re nicer (and pimp me comics each week).

Comment from pfigTime 7th March 2008 at 9:23 pm

is this the one near museum street (on great russell street)? i will be in that area tomorrow.

is there a codeword, or do i just tell them “billy sent me”?

Comment from billyabbottTime 9th March 2008 at 5:32 pm

It’s the one pretty much opposite the British Museum. No password needed as long as you hand over the money.

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